Of Sand and Snow
by lightningpelt
Summary: Naruto loves the snow, and decides to have a bit of fun with the Kazekage… which may not be his smartest idea. Crackish fluff, no pairings Merry Christmas to all


**(A/N) Greetings and Meri Kurisumasu! ^^**

**This is (obviously) my Naruto Christmas story. I'm going out of town, so yes, it is early. Better early than late. ^^ **

**No pairings intended. **

**Just... whipped up during a really cold day. Felt like Gaara all huddled up. :D **

**I love Lee. I hate Sakura. Just saying. **

**I do not own any Naruto characters... although will I finally have a Gaara plushie on Christmas morning...? **

**Translation notes: Itai!=Owwie! **

"It… is… too… cold…" Gaara growled, his shoulders hunched miserably and his dark ringed eyes narrowed in disgust.

Sakura laughed cheerfully, rubbing her mittened hands together. "Lighten up, Gaara-kun! It may be cold, but it's so pretty!"

"Heh." Gaara pointedly turned his back, head lowered so that as much of his face was hidden in his scarf as was possible. Shrugging his shoulders to fluff up his shall even more than it was already fluffed, he jammed his hands further into his pockets. At least it was warm inside his thick, woolen clothes.

_Splat! _

Gaara was blindsided by a not-so-random snowball flying at his head. It smacked him unpleasantly right on the ear, wrenching his head around and splattering across his face. His Kazekage hat went flying as he spun, a vicious snarl in place.

"Whoever threw that is dead!" he yelled, summoning his sand. But Shukaku was sluggish due to the cold, and the sand responded at less than half its normal speed.

Naruto- for who else would anger an already annoyed Kazekage with a snowball to the face? –snickered mischievously, ducking back behind his hastily constructed snow fort. Gaara's eyes darkened with rage.

"Nar… u… to…" he growled, sloshing through the icy snow toward his soon-to-be-handicapped-for-life friend. Gaara was not to get his revenge that day, though. For, just as he was approaching striking range…

Another snowball smacked him in the back of the head.

Not only did this snowball fill his hair with the cold slush, it tipped the poor Kazekage off balance. As Gaara turned to face the perpetrator, another snowball hit him right in the face, spinning him in a clumsy pirouette that ended with the sand shinobi face down in the snow.

This, of course, resulted in everyone present laughing hysterically and snapping pictures.

Gaara, spluttering and red faced with fury and embarrassment, pried himself out of the snow bank.

Lee and Naruto, the parties responsible, slapped high fives, trying to stifle their laughter.

Everyone else in the vicinity…

Took cover.

Gaara stalked forward and Naruto and Lee, glancing at each other, split up and dashed in opposite directions. Gaara, long past caring about the cold, pulled off his sopping wet scarf and let it drop to the ground. Shivering involuntarily as frigid wind curled around his neck, he rose up on a small mountain of sand. In his defense, he had never been in a snowball fight before. In his defense, the sand that he took for granted was too sluggish to respond properly.  
>He failed to realize that this made him a more obvious target.<p>

Both leaf ninja, from behind forts, took aim, and fired off about three snowballs each in rapid succession. To Gaara's credit, he managed to dodge the first and second, but got smacked in the shoulder with a third, the face with a fourth, the chest by a fifth, and again in the head with a sixth. His fury almost enough to melt the snow he was then covered in, Gaara would have launched an attack… had he not been on his rear at the moment.

Naruto snickered, and therefore was the first one to attract the sand shinobi's attention. Realizing with some regret that his sand would be useless, Gaara has scooped up a handful of snow behind his back. Despite his inexperience, he was sharp, and constructing a snowball was not the most complicated task in the world. So Naruto's carefree laughter only lasted for a moment before a clod of the wet stuff struck him square in the face.

Spluttering, the leaf ninja shook his head. "Oy! Unfair!" he yelled, and Gaara gave a cold little chuckle.

"Fair... Uzumaki says it isn't fair," he laughed. "Well, Uzumaki, it's only just begun!"

... ... ...

"Itai...!"

The Hokage drew back from the whimpering boy, inspecting her work. Then, she gave a brisk nod.

"Remember, there's no guarantee you won't lose your nose from frostbite," she called over her shoulder, leaving her patient with only Sakura for company.

"You should have known better," the pink-haired medic scolded, "than to get into a _snowball fight _with the _Kazekage_. I swear..."

Rubbing crossly at his nose- swathed in bandages -Naruto only grinned. "It was fun!"

Sakura smiled at the memory, seeing in her mind's eye the three seemingly dignified shinobi dancing about in the snow. At some point Lee had switched alliances, and he and Gaara had both gone after the Konoha jinchuriki; they did make quite the team, and soon Naruto was forced to resort to his Sexy Jutsu, which actually didn't work as well as intended, seeing as all his doppelgangers were practically naked in the frigid winter air. It had only been a matter of time before he ended up face-down in a snowdrift, waving an improvised white flag (a tissue).

But, as Naruto had so simply put it, it had been fun. Even Gaara had begun to smile, then, and the hot chocolate afterwards was appreciated by all.

"We should make a tradition of this."

**(A/N) Review are very much appreciated! They're my favorite stocking stuffers in the whole world! Merry Christmas! **


End file.
